Inside every small business owner is a corporate giant just waiting
to get out. Just because you own a small business, it doesn’t mean that
it has to seem like a small business. There are so many things you can
do to make your business look much larger than it actually is, which is
going to give you more credibility to the public. Giving off the
impression of being a big business is also going to scare the
competition, which is exactly what you want to do. Here are three ways
that you can make your small business seem like a big business.
Addresses and Phone Systems
The
first thing we need to discuss here is your location. In order to give
the appearance of being a larger company, you should have more than one
physical address. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to actually
get mail sent to these addresses. They could be the addresses of
businesses where your friends or family members work. But, they are
going to make your listing look a lot more important. After all, if
there are numerous offices, it must be a huge and successful company,
right? While you are at it, you should also update your telephone
system. Instead of having a receptionist (which may seem weird to
customers and clients if you list multiple addresses), get an 800 number.
This shows that yours is an established business, and it gives callers
options so they can be navigated to the right department. Again, this is
going to make your business seem a lot larger than it really is. Use
three-digit extensions instead of single-digit, to make it look like
there are more departments and more employees.
Get a Great Website and Use Online Sales Tools
You
may be tempted to use a web host that lets you create your own website
in a matter of minutes. Don’t do it! No matter how small your business
is, the website should be designed by a professional who knows what they
are doing. In fact, it is even more important for small businesses,
because the more professional you look in the public eye, the more
confident the public is going to be with your business. It is also going
to make your business look bigger, because having a website designed is
expensive, and not everyone can afford it. If you sell to businesses,
you better skip the “web designer” altogether and go with someone who
can architect the entire customer experience for you, web design,
strategic content and all. You may hire inbound sales training and sales enablement from a company like SalesHub to acquire new customers from your website – “it only hurts once” as they say!
The
internet has enabled businesses of all sizes to sell to both consumers
and companies alike. You should take the time to research what’s
possible, and find expert vendors and partners you can trust.
Don’t Put Your Title on Business Cards
You probably have your title listed on your business cards,
just like millions of other small business owners do. While this is not
necessarily a mistake, it is something that you should not do. There
are actually several reason to not do this. For starters, if you have
“president” or another impressive-sounding title, and you run a small
business, people aren’t going to take you seriously. After all, it is
just big companies that have presidents, right? Also, you do a lot of
different jobs, so one job title is not going to accurately describe
what you do. It is best to simply leave your title off the cards
completely. If someone wants to know what you do, they will ask, and you
can tell them at that time. You can also introduce yourself with any
title, and it isn’t going to contradict what is on your business card.a
